Brace.



F. GRUWELL & J. T. MGCANN.

BRAGE. APPLICATION FAILED APR.30,1914.

1,121,999. Patented Dec. 22.1914.

FELIX GRUWELL AND JAMES THOMAS MGGANN, OF TUOLUMNE, CALIFORNIA.

BRACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 30, 1914. Serial No. 835,418.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FELIX GRUWELL and James T. MGCANN, citizens of the United States, and residents of Tuolumne, in the county of Tuolumne and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Braces, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in braces and more particularly to a brace level, and one of the principal objects of our invention is to provide a brace with a brace level whereby the operator of the brace may instantly ascertain whether the brace is being maintained in a vertical or horizontal position relative to whether a vertical or horizontal hole is being bored.

Another object of the invention ,is to provide a brace head with leveling means which will be simple, durable, efficient in operation and capable of easy and inexpensive installation.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the figures, of Which,

Figure 1 represents a side elevational View of an ordinary boring brace, a portion of the brace head being shown in section with the invention applied thereto, Fig. 2 represents a front elevational view of a brace head with the invention applied thereto, Fig. 3 represents a top plan view of the same, and Fig. 4 represents a vertical transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated by line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, an ordinary brace is illustrated at 5, and the brace head is shown at 6. The brace head is provided near its front face with a vertically disposed bore 7, which extends from near the bottom of the brace head to the top surface thereof, and said bore is adapted to receive a vertical spiritlevel. vial 8, which is somewhat less in length than the length of bore 7 and is disposed in the lower portion thereof and is set in plaster-of-Paris or other similar material indicated at 9. Extending parallel with the front face of the brace head, and at right angles to bore 7, a second bore 10, which extends from one of the side faces of the brace head nearly to the opposite side face thereof, intersects bore '7 near its upper end, said bore 10 being of substantially the same di- Patented Dec 22, 1914.

ameter as bore 7, and in said'bore 10 is dis- I posed a horizontal leveling vial 11, which may also be set in plaster-of-Paris indicated at 12, if so desired.

The length of vial 8 is such that when it is in position the vial 11 may be passed into its bore above vial 8, thus retaining the latter in position and in order to keep vial 11 in place, the outer end of bore 10 is screwthreaded to receive a short screw 13. The upper portion of bore 7 which occurs above vial 11 acts as a peep-hole 14, through which vial 11 may be observed, and in the front face of the brace head is provided a second peep-hole 15, through which vial 8 may be observed.

It will be seen that a very simple and compact arrangement has been provided and that the operator of the brace by observing the levels as he uses the instrument may ascertain instantaneously whether the brace is being maintained in a respective vertical or horizontal position.

Although we have described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we may desire to make such changes in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts as do not depart from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claim.

We claim A device of the class described comprising a brace head provided with a vertically disposed bore near its front face, and further provided with a horizontally disposed bore intersecting first said bore at right angles thereto, second said bore extending from one side face of the brace head to near the opposite face thereof, said vertical bore extending from the top face of the brace head to near the bottom thereof, a spirit-level vial disposed within said vertical bore, said vial being of a length to extend from the bottom of said vertical bore to the intersecting point of said vertical and horizontal bores, a

R is? second spirit-level Vial disposed Within said peep-hole through Which said vertical vial horizontal bore, the open end of said horimay be observed. zontal bore being threaded, a screw threaded FELIX GRUWELL. lnto said open end for lnalntaimng said JAMES THOMAS MCGANN vials in place, the upper end of said vertical bore acting as a peep-hole through which Witnesses:

said horizontal vial may be observed, said JoH-N LEE, brace head provided at its front face With a R. W. CLo'rTU.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents.

Washington, Ill-C. 

